The Business of Revenge Chapter 1
by tickles da clown
Summary: Lokaal is a tormented man. After his wife is kidnapped by the Thalmor, he begins to feel mad.


Chapter one: Skyrim

I awoke from my nightmare to find another waiting for me. I had a massive headache, and also a purple welt on my forehead. I was in a carriage with a couple of bulky Nord men and a diminutive, frightened looking one with shadows around his eyes. The man across from me greeted me and reminded me of what was going on. I had been captured by Imperials while crossing the border. It appeared that the nightmare that I had suffered through had been true, however much I would like to refuse it.

I noticed the snow and surprising cold. I deduced that we must be in Skyrim. I didn't remember High Rock, and before my nightmare had ended, I was coming towards the land of the Nords.

All too soon, we came upon a walled settlement. I remembered my "crimes". I had done too much to be thrown in jail for a couple of years. The headsman and bloody executioner block confirmed my suspicions. We rode up to a wall, and the thief stepped off first, followed by who the man that was sitting across from me had introduced as Ulfric Stormcloak. I then stepped off, and heard the last one step off next to me. The carriage that was in front of us stopped a few feet away and emptied itself as well.

The Imperial captain began rattling off names, Lokir of Rorikstead, who attempted to run and was the first person to die of us, though by arrows rather than decapitation. Then followed Ulfric, who was reverently saluted by the Nord, whose name I learned next, Ralof. They then called me, the one with light armor asking his superior what he should do, since I was not on the list. "He's here, he must have done something. Send him to the block." the captain said to my dismay. She commanded me to follow her, and I obeyed. Something about her voice sounded oddly familiar, and I was surprised that she was a captain at what appeared to be a young age.

Ulfric was spoken to by the Imperial general, Tullius, who called him and instigator of a war that I had heard of only a week ago. While they were staring at each other contemptuously, I began to burn my bindings with magic. When I had gotten through them, I used the telekinesis spell to hold them together. By then, the conversation had ended.

The captain called a man to the block and commanded the priestess of Arkay to give us our last rites. While the priestess shouted, the man that was furthest to my right walked to the block. I expected him to resist, a man that had joined a rebellion must have some kind of spirit. But instead, he allowed the captain to push him onto the block, and he said only "My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials. Can you say the same?" I wouldn't have been able to say the same as I simply watched the headsman's axe come crashing down and blood squirt out of a headless neck.

The captain called me next. I walked up, and began to bend over. When she lifted her foot up to kick me down, I let my bindings fall and grabbed the foot. She looked at me with surprise and I grinned as I drew her sword while swinging around behind of her and pressing the sword against her throat. The headsman had his axe in mid swing by then and took the captain in the waist rather than my shoulder, which he was aiming for as I made the woman my hostage. She howled, and a great shadow landed on the tower behind me. I turned just as it shouted three words that I would never forget, "FUS RO DAH." I was sent hurtling, and I let go of the sword so that I would not impale myself on it. The captain and headsman were also sent flying as I saw fireballs start dropping from the sky.

I landed face down about twenty feet away. I stood up like Ralof screamed at me to do. I followed him into a tower as he and I looked back at the last second before closing the door. I saw the Imperial captain's desperate face as she struggled towards the open door and I recognized her. I had seen that same expression a month ago, and memories came flooding into my head unwelcomed.  
x  
It was raining in the Imperial city. I had always enjoyed walking in the light rain, and I was blissfully happy about my marriage two weeks ago. I had a party last night in honor of my new wife, Eiord. The beautiful Nord woman had become high up in the politics of my hometown, the Imperial City, and caught my eye as I was a mercenary who could not help but notice beauty when I saw it. She hired me the next time that she visited her family in Skyrim. We fell in love six months before the memory, and had been married happily. She had made an amazing speech at our wedding, stirring my heart and speaking of how she was going to make the Empire better with her wonderful new husband by her side. She also subtly hinted about how she was going to eradicate the Thalmor from the Empire.

I was wandering in the streets of the Imperial City after meeting with a skooma dealer and getting high after drinking myself into a hole in the tavern. It was about ten minutes into my high when I saw Lucretia. She was in the streets as well, and looked haggard. She was wearing beggar's robes and asked me for a coin. Instead, I took her to my house to become warm. I fed her dinner and found out why she was on the streets alone.

She told me that her father was in the Legion. He had suffered a terrible wound, and came to her house to spend his final days. By that point, she had dried enough, and I only noticed how nice she looked in the firelight. I didn't remember what she told me about her mother, but eventually she died as well, and Lucretia was left on the streets on her own at the age of seventeen, too young to join the legion. When I took her in, Lucretia had told me that he contemplated joining the Dark Brotherhood, if only to get a job.

I gave her twenty septims and let her sleep in the spare room. I wasn't able to sleep because of the high, so I ate some more food after Lucretia went to sleep. I ate until well into the night, around eleven o'clock. I went into the bedroom, and Lucretia was there waiting for me. My judgement was impaired by the drink and the skooma, and I slept with her. The next morning, my wife came home, and saw us in the bed sleeping next to each other. I realized my folly only after seeing Eiord's pained face and I felt immense guilt press down on me.  
x  
I was jarred back to reality by the door shutting in her face. I shoved Ralof out of the way and threw the door open again. Lucretia fell inside the sanctuary of the tower as Ralof was talking to Ulfric. "What is she doing in here?" Ulfric inquired after seeing the captain. Ralof was about to bury an axe that he had found in her neck when I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over and asked with a weak voice "Why did you let her in? She ordered you death, no matter her being an Imperial."

"Because I have no wish to see my friend dead. I knew her in Cyrodiil." I knelt and examined her wound. The axe had broken through her armor skirt as if it had not been there and bit down to the pelvis. I summoned healing magic to my hand and waved my hand with golden light over her waist. Ralof sneered, thinking that no mage could heal her now, but he did not know me. Within moments, her wound had knit. Ralof stood agape, as did Lucretia.

"Are you okay, Lucretia?" I asked her.

"I'm okay. But I'm scared. Hadvar's still out there, and General Tullius."

"So what? I say let the general die, and his minion too." Ulfric said. I began to feel real hatred for that man.

"We don't have time to be arguing. We can get out through the top of the tower." Lucretia said.

Ralof surprised me by agreeing. We all started running up the tower. There was already a man up there moving rubble out of the way to get us up the tower. Just before I got to the landing that he was at, the dragon burst his head through the wall and burned the man to death. Shortly afterward, the dragon took off.

Without hesitation, Lucretia and I leapt from the hole in the wall into a burning inn. There was some overturned furniture and mead spilled on the floor. We hurried through the upper floor and leapt down to the lower level.

"Hadvar!"

"Lucretia!"

Hadvar was on the outside of the inn with a boy and an old man in iron armor. Around the corner, there was a man lying in a large pool of blood.

"Lucretia! I thought that you were dead when you went in that tower with the Stormcloaks. However did you manage to escape?" Hadvar inquired.

"That is a story for another time." Lucretia responded.

The dragon landed as Hadvar shouted the man's name, something like Thorold. He also told us all to get back as the dragon finished Thorold with fire.

Lucretia, Hadvar, and I ran down an alleyway, leaving the old man behind to watch the child. As we came out of the alley, we came upon the corpse of an Imperial soldier. Lucretia scooped the man's sword up since I had stolen hers only a few minutes ago. We continued through the city, past soldiers futilely attempting to slay the dragon. Hadvar shoved us into the keep and barred the door behind us. We continued through a place where the soldiers would sleep and came to a wooden gate. Hadvar pulled a chain and the gate raised into the ceiling noisily.

A pair of Stormcloaks came charging at us from the other chamber, and I took them both out with a lightning bolt to the throat. We continued down the hall and came upon a storage room. where two Stormcloaks were holed up. I electrocuted one, and by the time I was aiming at the other one, Lucretia had her sword in his belly up to the hilt.

We continued on further, and came upon a torturing chamber. Hadvar let the torturer know what was happening, and I picked the lock to a cage that contained a dead mage. I donned his novice hood and took his coin purse of twenty five septims before continuing on my way. There was another hallway filled with cages on either side. We then came upon a chamber where there were crow cages filled with skeletons.

Through this chamber was a hole in the gray brick wall. We went through this hole and came into a chamber with eight Stormcloaks milling around. Hadvar and Lucretia charged with a scream, while I hung back and killed one with a lighting bolt. Lucretia decapitated one and stabbed another, while Hadvar killed one with a vicious blow to the ribs. While Hadvar was pulling out his blade, one of them raised her warhammer in a motion to strike Hadvar. I killed her with a fire bolt just before the hammer came down.

As Hadvar turned around to grant me his gratitude, a sword sprouted out of his chest. Lucretia screamed his name and ran towards him. I ran with her. Lucretia buried her sword into the skull of the man who had killed her comrade. I dealt with the last two as I did with the first.

Lucretia knelt next to Hadvar's body. I had only just met the man, but I could tell that Lucretia had cared for him from the way that she kept shouting his name and telling him to wake up, threatening that if he didn't then she was going to tell his superiors. I gently laid a hand on her shoulder and her face jerked upwards to mine, her beautiful features obscured by tears and snot.

She pressed her face to my shoulder and continued sobbing. "I'm sorry," she kept saying. I didn't know if she was telling Hadvar or me, but she sounded sincere. I didn't say anything. I just hugged her close and let her cry. We sat there for a while, her just sobbing and apologizing. I realized that she was speaking to me; apologizing for tempting me when I was irrational. I only apologized once back to her, for being such an idiot that day, and for her friend dying.

Eventually, I said to her that we need to start moving. I understood her sorrow, but I didn't intend to sit there until the end of time. I dragged her to her feet, and we trudged onward towards a wall of wood. I pulled a lever and the wood fell to cover a chasm.

We kept moving through some tunnels underneath Helgen. We came upon a family of Frostbite Spiders, and Lucretia was too emotionally compromised to help. She didn't even hold the sword with a proper grip, just let it hang by her side. I forgot how young she truly was. I easily electrocuted the spiders, and we moved on. We soon came upon a sleeping bear. We tried to sneak by, but Lucretia's heavy armor woke the bear. We would have been able to run away, but the thing had woken up when we were four feet away.

I used a sustained bolt of electricity on the bear, but it was only infuriated. It stood up on its hind legs and it occurred to me that I wasn't wearing any armor when the bear tore through my hood with its claws and sent me sprawling. As I lifted my head again, I saw twin Lucretias stab two bears in the back. It roared in pain, and they swiped at the Lucretias. She absorbed the blow with her armor, but her sword was wrenched out of her grasp as the bear turned towards her. By this point, I was standing. I used the telekinesis spell to pull the sword out of the bear's back and into my hand.

I ran at the bear, and it turned towards me as I let loose a roar of my own. The bear swiped at me again, but I ducked the blow and stuck the sword into the bear's brain through its chin. I left the sword in the bear as its body slumped to the ground. As my adrenaline rush had ended, I noticed the excruciating pain in my head from the bear's strike. Lucretia stood staring at me, her mouth agape and face spattered with blood.

"Lokaal, your head." Lucretia said to me, her tone panicked. I ran a hand over my scalp, and my hair was saturated with my blood. I summoned healing magic, and ran my hand back over my scalp, which then knitted. Lucretia and I managed to continue through the tunnels and out into the sunlight, meeting no more resistance.

We made it outside just when the dragon passed overhead. We ducked underneath of a rock and watched it vanish into the distance.

"There is a village to the north of here. Hadvar's uncle could probably help us out. He's the smith there." Lucretia proposed. I consented, and we started walking north along the path that led out of the cave. Soon, it merged onto a paved road. We had been walking for about ten minutes when the village came into view in the distance. The crashing of water filled my ears as the road descended upon the banks of a river. I was watching the sunset reflect off the waters of the river when a pack of three wolves fell upon us.

One pounced at Lucretia, and I kicked it so that its flight was off and the wolf missed her. I then lit its fur on fire with magic, and the other two wolves advanced more slowly. I lit the ground in front of them on fire, and they started running. For good measure, I electrocuted another one as they were running to make sure that they kept running. Lucretia and I continued into the village when the wolf leapt at Lucretia from behind and bit her wounded hip. Lucretia cried out in pain and was unable to draw her sword since the wolf had a hold of the scabbard as well. I dared not attempt to use magic on the wolf as it was thrashing about and I might have missed and killed Lucretia.

Instead, I drew an iron dagger that I had found in the torturer's chamber and plunged it into the wolf's back. Its jaws released, and Lucretia drew her sword to kill the beast. The wolf pounced again, but this time Lucretia was ready for it and sank her blade into the bitch's skull. By this point, the bite and exertion had reopened Lucretia's hip wound. I attempted to heal it, but my magicka was nearly depleted and I only succeeded in relieving her pain for an instant. The rush of battle had left her, and Lucretia collapsed in pain.

I lifted Lucretia's upper body up and attempted to drag her into the village, but her cries of pain made me stop. "I'll be right back. Don't worry, I'll have help." I reassured Lucretia while sprinting into the town, screaming "Help, help! Please, someone help!" but by that time of night everyone was inside. Nobody came, and I began to shiver in fear that Lucretia may die. I felt disgusted with myself. She was the reason my wife left me! I pushed the thoughts out of my mind as Lucretia's moans of pain grew louder. I pounded on the first door that I saw after running into the settlement, and an Imperial man answered the door. I fleetingly noticed a woman in the background that looked like him.

"What do you want? The store is closed, it's after dark."

"Please help me, my friend was injured by wolves, and she's bleeding terribly." I begged.

"Camilla, get the place ready, we're going to have guests."

The man grabbed a fur off of a hook by the door, and wrapped it around himself before stepping out into the frigid night with me. I guided him to where Lucretia was lying and we lifted her together, me getting her legs and he holding her under the arms. We carted her into his store, where we set her down on the main table in the center of the room. Lucretia was still moaning when I asked him for some potions. He was out of stock of potions, so he grabbed some wine off of a shelf.

He dumped it into a cooking pot while I pulled up her steel skirt on the side that she had been injured. The man stoked the fire for a few seconds to make it hotter before returning to the woman's side. I asked him if he had some Blisterwort. When he asked why, I said because of the healing properties. He brought the mushroom to me, and I tore off the cap. I broke the cap further into smaller pieces and pressed them into the wound. Her sigh of relief may have been the single most satisfying thing that I have ever heard.

"That doesn't look like a wolf bite." I turned my head to behind me, where Camilla was standing, her eyes wide and her mouth open slightly. "It looks more like a blade wound."

"Well, the wolf didn't get through her armor, but it opened a wound that I had healed earlier."

"How did she get the wound?" Camilla asked, and I told her the story of how we escaped from the dragon at Helgen. "If there is a dragon roaming about, we need to let the jarl know. Riverwood is defenseless, we don't even have any guards." Camilla announced. Lucretia nodded slightly in agreement.

By then, the wine in the cooking pot was boiling. Lucan put on a glove and picked it up. "This is going to be hell, but we need to make sure that the wound does not get infected. Here, bite this." the store owner warned as he put a glove in her mouth. She bit down, and the man poured the boiling wine on her hip. Lucretia screamed and bit down on the glove, which muffled it. Lucretia pounded the table with one hand and held onto it for dear life with the other. Soon, it was over, and Camilla went upstairs to get a bandage. She returned moments later with a yard long strip of white cloth in her hand.

"The smallclothes are going to have to come off if I'm to bind this properly." Camilla said. Her co worker and I turned our heads as Camilla did as was expected. She told us that we could look back, and the cloth had been wrapped around her waist in both a concealing and protective fashion.

"What's your name?" I asked the male Imperial.

"Lucan Valerius. She's my sister, Camilla." The man told me, "We own this store and work in it together." I nodded. "Your friend here is welcome to sleep in my bed until tomorrow. I'll bunk with my sister." Lucan told me.

"Where will I sleep?"

"You could sleep with your friend here, or you could rent a room at the inn." Lucan said. I slept at the inn that night. I returned to the shop that morning around seven. I opened the door to find Camilla cooking breakfast.

"Hi. Making breakfast." Camilla told me.

"How's Lucretia doing?" Camilla's face darkened at the mention of my friend.

"She's upstairs. She's not doing so well." I went upstairs and found her awake, sweating out of all pores. I walked up to her, and she was looking at me, but it didn't look like she really was. It looked like she was looking behind me. I turned to where she was looking, and saw nothing but rafters.

"Hey there. How are you doing?" I asked Lucretia.

"The wound has festered. Only a priest of Kynareth can save her now." Lucan said from behind me. How could that be? We had done everything possible. "I can send a courier for the temple of Kynareth in Whiterun." Lucan told me. I nodded, and he said, "I have something for you to do. I gave you a favor, so I have one for you." Lucan took me onto the balcony outside. He pointed to the west, towards the barrow that I had seen coming to Riverwood from Helgen. "See that barrow?" I nodded. "There is a camp of bandits there. I had a golden claw, one that they stole. Its fashioned to look like it came off of a dragon. I need you to go there, and teach those bandits that you don't mess with Lucan Valerius. Kill them all." I consented, and he sent me on my way immediately.

I walked north until there was a split in the road. I took the left split, the unpaved one, into the mountains. I was walking about fifty feet before a lone wolf attacked me, which I easily dispatched. I continued into the mountain, and a couple minutes later, snow started falling, and I was wishing that I had taken a fur from Lucan before leaving.

Before long, I came upon a tower that was inhabited by three bandits. One was leaning against a tree, and I electrocuted him before he saw me. By then, an archer had spotted me. She loosed an arrow in my direction, and I put up a ward and deflected it. I charged her with the ward up, and gave her a lightning bolt to the chest, which killed her through her furs. I didn't notice the last one until he came out of the tower, dressed in an iron breastplate, as well as a horned iron helmet and lobstered iron boots and gauntlets. He swung his steel mace at me, and I ducked underneath of it. I then sent a lightning bolt his way, but he deflected it off of his shield. The bandit took another wild swing, and I dodged it again.

I tried to electrocute him again, his chest left open by the swing, but the bolt just went skidding off of his breastplate. He swung at me again and I attempted to dodge, but he compensated for it this time, and struck me in the shoulder, but thankfully, it was only a glancing blow. Otherwise, he would have broken my shoulder. All the same, the mace broke my skin, and I cried out in pain. I drew my dagger, and attempted to plunge it into his exposed throat, but he swatted my hand away and shoved me to the ground. He attempted to crush my skull with a massive overhand strike, but I rolled to my side and he smashed the ground instead of my skull. I stood up quickly, and noticed that he was still leaning over from his missed strike. As he was starting to rise more, I stuck the dagger in the back of the man's neck.

I healed my shoulder with magic. Afterwards, I knelt to the man whom I had killed most recently and donned his gauntlets and boots. I went back to the man that I had killed first, and shivered at the cold. I stripped the man and put his furs on myself. The only blemish on the armor was a charred black spot from the killing blow to the last owner. I continued along the path, no longer chilled by the snow and cold.

I came upon a massive stone structure. The arches were so large, that I saw them from Riverwood. There was a large spire of stone, built for archers defending, which ended in dragon's heads. A wide staircase with one landing was built into the structure. I noted an archer standing on the spire in the head, and a huge door on my right. The archer spotted me, and began firing arrows at me, but at this range he was inaccurate. I, however, controlled the path of magic with my mind, and I only needed to look at a spot to deliver a lightning bolt to it. I watched the body of a bandit fall from their post to the ground forty feet below. Another bandit with a warhammer saw where the bolt came from and charged at me down the stairs. I killed him on the stairs from one hundred yards. A third one met the same fate.

I didn't see the last one until I made it up the stairs. She was hiding behind a block of fallen rubble, her sword lying by her feet and her hands over her head in submission, whimpering.

"Where's the claw?" I asked in my most frightening voice. When she didn't respond, I grabbed her by the collar and shook her. I asked her the question again, only louder this time. She murmured something. "What was that?" I asked her. I tilted her face towards mine.

"They'll kill me if I tell." She said. I was taken aback by the young face of the woman. She looked no older than fourteen. Her face was covered in tears, and her upper lip coated with frozen snot.

"Where are your parents?" I inquired of her in a quieter voice. Her brow furrowed, and tearars threatened to spill out of her face again. "How old are you?" I asked her.

"Thirteen. My parents were killed by the Thalmor." And memories came flooding in unwelcomed.  
x  
It was the morning after I had slept with Lucretia. My wife resented me, it was obvious. I think that I loathed myself as much as she did. I couldn't believe my foolishness. I had forsaken my faithfulness to my wife, my wonderful, lovely wife, who had forgiven me all my failings, who I shared a family with me as well as a bed, and now, hatred for me. My beloved. The woman that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. And now, she hated me. The most wonderful woman in the world hated me!

I felt myself begin to lose my hold on sanity there. I couldn't make a rational decision, and I wouldn't go to the bed where my greatest folly took place. At breakfast that morning, Eiord and I sat at opposite ends of the long table. I said something stupid, and Eirod fled our home crying. I can't even remember what I said. I chased after her through the streets, calling her name. She was faster than me, and I noticed that she headed towards her father's house. She ducked into an alleyway, and I rounded the corner to find the Thalmor holding her. She struggled against them, and they knocked her unconscious. I ran at them, feeling magic course through me body, and they nearly killed me. As I felt myself sink into unconsciousness, the last thing that I saw was the Thalmor put her in a basket on a carriage.

I awoke a few minutes later, and stood up immediately. The carriage had vanished. I ran into the street, and saw the carriage just as it got passage to leave the City. In my insanity, I stole a horse and followed it. Someone saw me and called for the thief to stop. No one caught me, and I followed it. The driver of the carriage didn't notice me, oblivious bastard that he was. I followed him for about a week, and noticed that he was bound north to Skyrim. I couldn't overtake the carriage and rescue my wife because the Thalmor that had attacked me were riding in the carriage as well as the guard.

Once, when the carriage stopped to sleep, I snuck into the camp and tried to get to the basket that held my wife. Before I noticed, a Thalmor had snuck up behind me and knocked me to sleep. I awoke in an Imperial prison caravan, two weeks before I arrived in Skyrim.  
x  
"Hello?" The bandit girl said, wondering why my eyes had glazed over. Another symptom of madness, I suppose.

"Sorry. I was just thinking." I told her. She looked at me apprehensively. I began to suspect that madness was taking hold of me tighter and tighter as I thought about my wife more. At least I was able to think rationally enough to deduce that.

"HELLO?!" the girl said, beginning to panic. I shook my head. My eyes must have glazed over again.

"Sorry. Here's some gold, go to Riverwood. Ask for an apprenticeship from someone. Just don't be a bandit anymore. I might've killed you."

"What are you going to do?" The girl asked surprisingly.

"Well, I've been hired to kill everyone here. Be smart, and don't follow me."

"No! I want to come with you. Those fools have been threatening me with rape and murder. I say no more. They deserve to be punished, and I want to see their faces when they die."

"Well, I understand revenge. But you're so young, They'll kill you."

"Too bad. If you go in without me, I'll just follow you. I've been waiting too long for this day."

"When did your parents die?"

"Three winters ago." My eyes widened. This girl had been a bandit since she was ten. She'd seen things that no child should see. She'd seen the atrocities of the Thalmor when she was a child. She must have been hardened to live this long. I nodded, and her eyes brightened.

We continued on to the massive door that I had seen earlier. I put my back to the door and pushed. The door opened slowly, and we slipped through. We had walked into a massive hall, covered in offering tables and rubble. There was a crumbling pillar in the center, and beyond that, the flickering light of a campfire. The girl was about to charge the bandits in fury, but I heard them speaking and held a finger to my lips. We crouched and approached slowly. I dispelled the electricity in my hands and heard them speaking.

"... took it further into the barrow. Don't know what the damn fool was thinking." One bandit said.

"He said something about treasure? Some power? I don't know what it was, but he'd better share it with us." Another said.

"Well, better him than us. We could probably sold that claw for plenty, but if that stupid Dunmer wants to get himself killed, I'm not going to stop him." the first one said.

"I've heard enough. Let's go." I whispered to my acquaintance. She smiled.

"Thank you for the information." I said loudly to the bandits. They charged me, and I shoved a knife into the throat of the lead man with a greatsword. The other one kept coming at me, and I watched as the bandit's old ally crept up behind him and shoved her sword through his abdomen.

"I don't think I ever got your name. Mine is Lokaal. " I told her.

"It's Ainamo. My parents used to cal me Ain. The bandits called me 'the little bitch'." I was even more infuriated by this.

"Lets go kill them, shall we?" We continued through rubble and cobweb filled rooms until we saw one of the bandits. This one was a Nord, though, so he didn't have the claw. A couple moments later, he pulled a lever that was the centerpiece of the room. Poison darts flew out of small holes in the walls, and the bandit attempted to run from them. He ended up just running into one that hit him in the throat. It looked like it would have just stung a bit, but he keeled over, dead.

I noticed an iron gate at the far end of the room. I shook it a bit, and rust fell out of holes in the ceiling. "Stand back." I told Ainamo. I placed a fire rune on the gate, and took ten paces backwards while clenching my hand. I relaxed my hand, and the gate exploded into the chamber beyond with fire. We stepped through, and Ainamo looked at me with admiration and wonder. It made me want to squirm.

We continued deeper into the barrow, and killed a few skeevers that made a ton of noise. Soon, there was an archway blocked by webs. I groaned. Frostbite spiders were the monsters that I hated most. Ainamo cut her way through the web, and I followed. There were human corpses wrapped in webs littering the floor. My brow knitted. I saw a Dunmer wrapped in webs and suspended in another archway. I started my way towards him, and it appeared that the room became darker.

A giant Frostbite spider descended from behind me, its massive shadow making it appear as though it were night time in the barrow. Ainamo immediately stabbed it in its fifteen foot long left flank, and it turned around with amazing speed. As it turned around, I saw a large cut in the opposite side. I immediately cast a bolt of lightning into the cut. The monster shrieked, and I heard a tearing noise on the other side of it, the spider turned towards me again, and I heard a sizzling noise. Its poison sac had been cut open, and the venom was spilling all over the floor.

The floor was being burned through by the acidic venom, and I formulated a plan. I summoned a bound sword, and pricked the beast's legs. I turned towards me further, dripping venom. I danced around the sides of it, stabbing it shallowly, until we had gone around in a near perfect circle. I heard a cracking, and smirked. My plan had worked. The spider's weight shifted slightly, and the floor began to fall away around it. The beast moved more, trying to gain purchase, and only succeeded in making the floor crack more.

The cracks began to spread towards me, and I backed away. I saw the floor around the giant monster finish cracking, and the spider fell. I heard its death throes, and knew that the fall had most likely killed it. The cracks continued to spread to me, and I tried to climb onto the wall behind me, but I found no purchase. I saw the hole that had swallowed the spider, and there was a drop of about thirty feet. I slipped after jumping to grab the wall, and began to fall in. I heard Ainamo call my name. I scrambled to try to grab the ground, and found no purchase.

I continued to slip, and while I was scrambling, I stabbed the floor with my ethereal sword. I heard Ainamo's sigh of relief, and the sword began to dissipate. My eyes widened, and I saw Ainamo try to dive and grab my hand, and she only succeeded in scuffing her knee. As I fell, I summoned a ward. I directed the ward towards the ground, but it had only charged up slightly before it hit the ground. The ward slowed me slightly, but my face still hit the ground painfully.

"Lokaal!" I heard Ainamo call. I turned my bloody face and called back, "I'm all right! I'll find a way through, and meet you there." I saw her small face nod assent, and I struggled to my feet.


End file.
